[Pending] Mitigation of attenuating effects from ionizing radiation in silica optical fibers by photobleaching.
Published:
Abstract
Systems and methods for performing optical annealing of an optical fiber disposed in a cryogenic environment subject to ionizing radiation, such as in a fusion energy source, are provided. The techniques include optically annealing the optical fiber using first light having a first peak wavelength and second light having a second peak wavelength different than the first peak wavelength. The first and second peak wavelengths may be selected to optically anneal defects associated with transient radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) and permanent RIA.
My Contribution
We filed this patent based on research I conducted on the use of photobleaching to mitigate radiation induced attenuation in optical fibers. We subsequently published three papers demonstrating the effectiveness of this technology:
- Gamma irradiation of Ge-doped and radiation-hard silica fibers at cryogenic temperatures: Mitigating the radiation-induced attenuation with 1550 and 970 nm photobleaching
- Reducing Radiation Effects on Fiber Optic Quench Detection Sensors With Optical Annealing
- Length-Resolved Measurement of Radiation Induced Attenuation in Quench Detection Optical Fibers With Photobleaching